What you should read next – November 2019

I took a bit of a book hiatus as you can tell by the fact that I haven’t recommended anything for you to read since August.

I didn’t put enough books on my Kindle while I was traveling.

Occasionally, everything needs a break? I don’t know.

How Not to Die: Surprising Lessons from America’s Favorite Medical Examiner

by Jan Garavaglia M.D.

The author is a medical examiner. She gives obvious advice like always wear a seat belt, always drive the speed limit, eat well, and exercise daily. But she also recommends nurturing an active social life and finding purpose for your life. People with those traits are the people who live to be in their 90’s and beyond.

Researchers tell us that when we expose ourselves to new challenges, we build our knowledge and experience, which increases confidence, happiness, and well-being.

Suicide is a leading cause of death due to despair and feelings of worthlessness. Purpose and social life can combat that.

Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging

by Sebastian Junger

This is a fascinating book on how mankind structures itself socially. The author posits that technology hasn’t caught up with evolution. As humans, we’re supposed to live in smallish tribes, surrounded by others, enveloped in constant companionship.

When we were hunters and gatherers, we shared all our resources and worked only a few hours a day. We spent the rest of the time in leisure — chatting, and socializing.

“it’s possible that many people feel that affluence and safety simply aren’t a good trade for freedom.”

But it’s nice having a good house and your alone time, isn’t it? I love being safe.

“Financial independence can lead to isolation, and isolation can put people at a greatly increased risk of depression and suicide.”

Oh, yeah. That’s what the medical examiner said in the last book I read.

“In 2015, the George Washington Law Review surveyed more than 6,000 lawyers and found that conventional success in the legal profession–such as high billable hours or making partner at a law firm–had zero correlation with levels of happiness and well-being reported by the lawyers themselves.

Yeah, I could see that.

Self-determination theory holds that human beings need three basic things in order to be content: they need to feel competent at what they do; they need to feel authentic in their lives; and they need to feel connected to others. These values are considered ‘intrinsic’ to human happiness and far outweigh ‘extrinsic’ values such as beauty, money, and status.

I cherry pick the quotes I like.

A Reaper at the Gates (An Ember in the Ashes series)

by Sabaa Tahi

Book three in this science fiction-y, young adult-y, series I’ve been slugging through. My interest wanes and I may be giving up.

There There, a novel

by Tommy Orange

When you’re already feeling sad, it’s a stupid idea to read sad books. There is some sad shit in the world. Sad, sad, sad.

This book chronicles the stories of several modern Native Americans, a group of people struggling with alcoholism and other addictions, depression and suicide, domestic violence, and other sad things. I’m using the word sad too much.

“Kids are jumping out the windows of burning buildings, falling to their deaths. And we think the problem is that they’re jumping. This is what we’ve done: We’ve tried to find ways to get them to stop jumping. Convince them that burning alive is better than leaving when the shit gets too hot for them to take. We’ve boarded up windows and made better nets to catch them, found more convincing ways to tell them not to jump. They’re making the decision that it’s better to be dead and gone than to be alive in what we have here, this life, the one we made for them, they one they’ve inherited.”

And one quote I’ve been thinking about a lot:

It ends up that who you spend time with ends up mattering more than what you do with that time.